About

PUBLIC - PARTICIPATION - PERFORMANCE

(Français suivera)

Photo by Claudio Enrique Amorim

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The SensoriuM is a
collaborative artistic platform founded by multimedia and performance artist
Natalie Doonan in Montreal, Canada in 2011. In this project, Natalie curates a series of tours and tastings led by artists. Natalie looks for artists whose work engages critically and playfully with food and consumption. She sites performances in evocative and meaningful locations, and works with artists to create participatory situations. The SensoriuM presents participatory art
performances with the aim of generating conversation. Through tours and tastings led by artists, participants are
engaged viscerally, creating spaces for discussion. Tours and tastings are two major forms through which stories
about place proliferate and the SensoriuM offers chances to unsettle staid
narratives. This approach to
collective learning through walking and eating is a new take on an old
theme. For example, Aristotle
founded the Lyceum, a school of philosophy, in Athens circa 335 BCE. It is said that on its grounds, he established the first zoo and the first botanical gardens. This became the field for his famous
investigations in the natural sciences. In the mornings, Aristotle walked and exchanged knowledge with his
students through discussion and debate in the gardens. This was continued through lunch, as
they ate together. Aristotle’s
ambling academy became known as ‘the peripatetic school,’ drawing from the
Greek for ‘walking about.’ Today, the city and its environs become the field for peripatetic
and culinary investigations.

The purpose of the
SensoriuM is thus to activate public space through physical occupation and
through open, ongoing exchange. As authors Jody Emel and Jennifer Wolch say: "Our political project is the creation of many forms of shared space."

*Please note that this site is an artistic platform and should not be treated as an authoritative source for food consumption. The projects and events documented on this website should instead be viewed as thought experiments. Consume at your own risk.